Ashes to Ashes
by Signora Ted
Summary: She wasn't good with people. She could handle geth, space pirates and mercenries; but people? "If by charismatic you mean getting everyone in a room to shut and listen to you by threatening them violently with a gun? Yea, I think this time was just a fluke." But one soldier could change that. One damned biotic soldier could change her whole perspective of life. Shenko.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: Hi guys. First time writing for Mass Effect so I'll give it my all. Have a lot of this already written so hopefully it'll go well. Just a couple of things;  
1. I've taken liberties with certain things, such as armour (not that crap we had back in ME1, sticking with good all armour.) You'll know the things I've changed when you see them. They're just really subtle, nothing big. _****_2. I'm won't be going into detail with the mission in this story. It's more like the in between scenes. Personally, I just don't like rewriting the game. So, yep.  
3. It's going to span the three games, and probably a little after. What I haven't written, I have planned. But just a warning that ME1 goes pretty fast.  
_**

**_Anyway, I don't own Mass Effect sadly, and I ain't getting no profit from this. READ ONWARDS... and if you'd drop a review, that'd be nice :)  
_**

* * *

Hannah Shepard jogged towards the slight figure leaning against the railing, looking over the dry dock. She was late again, as usual. Her daughter turned at the sound of her mother's footsteps and looked over her shoulder, giving her a cheeky smile.

"Yea know, mom," she began, turning her whole body around fully to face Hannah, leaning her bare elbows on the metal. "Seems the only one you're on time for is Hackett."

The commander gave Hannah a wink accompanied by a smirk and waited for her mother's reaction. Instead of indulging in her daughter's humour, she simply rolled her eyes.

"You said something shady seemed up about your mission details?"

Shepard pouted childishly at her failed attempt at provoking her mother. Growing up around Hackett, you noticed small, little things. And she'd be damned if she didn't notice something up with Hackett _and _her mother. She wasn't blind.

"Just seems a little… I don't know. Over the top? Too much for something so small. Just… Strange. I've got this feeling."

"Oh God help us all. You've got that feeling again. Really though, darling, you're being paranoid. Now I'd hurry up if I were you; wouldn't want to make a bad first impression on Anderson's crew now, would you?"

Captain Shepard sounded as if she was sending off her toddler to her first day of school, zipping up her school bag and looking over her uniform. But her daughter was still her little girl, no matter how many times she went off and saved the galaxy, Hannah was still allowed to dote on her. To some extent.

"Of course, mom. You don't go wreaking havoc either, alright? I _do _know where I got my talent for trouble making from."

Her mother made a 'pssh' sound, waving off the comment as if it were a fly, then smiled down at Shepard, pulling her into a hug. With a traditional press of their foreheads together, they gripped each other's forearms, wishing one another luck and went their separate ways. Hannah strutted back up the walkway to the elevator, while Shepard turned towards the exit, where the Normandy and her crew were waiting for her to arrive. They had _no _idea what they were all about to get into.

* * *

"I saw her on the vids, man. Those legs, the hips, that as-"

"Joker, she was wearing armour."

"And it was _very_ flattering. Come on, Alenko, admit it. What catches your eye, eh? The hair that would slide through your fingers like water, the eyes so green you swear-"

"Commander, this is our Flight Lieutenant, Jeff Moreau."

Joker cringed, glancing at Kaidan who was sending him an amused grin, and swivelled his chair around to face Anderson and Shepard.

"H-hey, Commander. Don't worry 'bout the name. Just call me Joker. Everyone does that, right Lieutenant? Heh."

"It's 'cos he thinks he's so outrageously funny," Kaidan added in with a snort, before realising who he was actually talking to. "Uh, Commander.

Shepard looked down at them both, finding herself holding back a grin that was tugging her lips. Joker still seemed to be squirming uncomfortably in his seat as she looked back at him pointedly. She'd let him suffer a little longer.

"I'm sure he is then. Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, am I right? I read your file. Pretty damn impressive. Remind me not to get into a fight of the biotics with you. I'll surely fail miserably."

Kaidan then accepted that maybe Joker had been right. This woman was attractive. Very. He was right about her hair, black and sleek and cropped to her jaw with short messy bangs on her left. And the eyes… He wouldn't mind having_ them_ stare a hole in the back of his head. He wasn't even going to start thinking about Joker's first comments, but then the pale skin of her bare arms just led him to the thoughts anyway.

It was then he realised she had spoken to him.

"Uh, thank you, ma'am. I've worked hard to be where I am."

Did that sound arrogant? It did, didn't it? No, it didn't. It just showed he had confidence in himself…Right?

"Good," she replied, turning to Anderson, who had been eyeing Joker sternly leaving the pilot looking sheepish, and began moving away from the cockpit. "Hard workers are the ones you can count on the most."

Kaidan felt the tips of his ears going hot and he glared at his console, praying that the Commander would get as far as way from the cockpit as possible. Once she was gone, a snicker from Joker tore his attention from his blank stare.

"What?" he asked sharply, his eyes narrowing.

"Dude, you totally just checked her out. Who was right? I was right."

A grumbling sound emerged from Kaidan's throat as he slid down in his chair ever so slightly. His eyes fell on Joker, who was sitting up straight smugly, and looked back at Kaidan, giving him a smirk.

"Asshole."

* * *

The night after Eden Prime, Shepard slept badly. In actual fact, she didn't sleep at all. Hours earlier, she had woken up in med-bay to see two big pools of whiskey coloured eyes staring down at her. Honestly, any other time, any other place, any other _person, _and she probably wouldn't have minded. Alenko's brow was scrunched together in concern and Shepard was mortified to find herself studying his features while he called for Dr. Chakwas. _It's just the drugs,_ she had told herself.

But now, as she lay in her bed gazing up at the stars, she realised that no, it hadn't been the drugs in her system. Just after losing one of her ground squad mates, and there she was, lounging in med-bay, giving her lieutenant a once over. She had never been so disgusted with herself. Of course, when she had insisted that she had to get up to make the call to the Jenkins family, Dr. Chakwas scolded her and she got some sort of pep talk from Alenko about how it wasn't her fault; that she did whatever she could've. She almost replied to him by snapping and telling him that what he had just said was a load of bull, but then remembered that he was probably agonising over the fact that he was why she was in med-bay in the first place. Again, a load of bull in her opinion but all she could really do without offending him was try and say thank you for the pep talk and carry on.

None of it made her feel better though. The visions of the beacon were still burning at the back of her eyes, making her feel nauseous at both the vivid images and the light headed feeling they caused. Chakwas had ended up giving her some sleeping meds, injecting them into her before she could bring them back to her cabin and flush them down the toilet. And yet there she was, three hours later. Sleep hadn't come to her once yet, even with the drugs that were now flowing through her veins, and which would now most likely make her feel like crap in the morning. Deciding she'd take a break from trying to get to sleep, she stumbled into the elevator to go down into the mess. Although the drugs weren't granting her with sleep, they were making her feel like she had just spent the night in a drinking match with a krogan. Nearly all the crew were asleep, meaning it was probably halfway through the artificial night cycle; perhaps maybe 3am. She only spotted two crewmen in the hallway, heading off to their pods. She was then the only one in the room, which suited her perfectly.

As she sat down with a mug of decaf coffee and a data pad, movement in the med-bay caught her eyes. She assumed Chakwas was in her quarters by now, and the fact that the lights were off made the commander all the more suspicious. Setting her mug down and putting the data pad aside, she quietly moved towards the med-bay, as stealthily as her drug induced swagger would allow her. She conjured up dark energy in her fist and opened the door. Instantly, she released it. Lying down on one of the beds was Alenko, an arm stretched across his eyes, only barely moving it to squint at her figure in the doorway. As the light flooded the room, Shepard heard him groan as he replaced his arm over his eyes and forgot to even acknowledge her.

It clicked for Shepard then, as she slid the door closed and used the dim light on her omnitool to root through one of Chakwas' drawers. Of course, Alenko was an L2. She had forgotten that and probably shouldn't have been surprised to see him in this sort of agony.

"Wha-what are you doing, Commander?" she heard come from the bed. She felt so bad for him. She had seen this before.

"I had a friend who was an L2, a doctor. She was lucky like you but likewise got the gift of the migraines. She worked out a trick with some meds that aren't really _supposed_ to be used for this kind of thing but she said it subdued the pain for a bit. Just don't tell Chakwas, she'll kill me."

She heard a strained, short laugh come from him, the pain evident in his voice. He seemed to have it worse than her friend Kay. She was bad but Alenko seemed _incredibly_ bad. She finally spotted the syringe she was looking for at the bottom of the drawer and grimaced when she looked back over the mess she had made. Chakwas would defiantly notice. If not from the missing syringe, definitely from the chaos that Shepard had created out of the doctor's usual organisation. Gently shutting the drawer with her hip, she held the syringe in a hand triumphantly, taking off the wrapping and preparing it for her fellow soldier.

"Right, hold out your arm, lieutenant. This will sting a bit."

She couldn't see his face at that moment, her eyes instead trained on getting the needle into his vein, but she was almost certain he had rolled his eyes.

"This kicks in pretty fast. Give it about five minutes or so. I'll stay around if that's okay; in case it doesn't work. I've a few other tricks up my sleeve."

At least she told herself that's why she was staying. In truth, if she went back to bed, she would be lying there tormenting herself over Jenkins, and even Williams' squad and Nihalus. They were all losses. She also liked the lieutenant and didn't want him to have to suffer alone. Yeah, that was it. She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she heard Alenko let out a sigh of relief, almost of contentment. It brought a smile to Shepard's face.

"That-that really worked, Commander. Thank you. Why did you help me? I mean-uh-why are you up? Uh, if you don't mind me asking."

His stuttering over the confusion with the formalities nearly made her laugh. He didn't have that problem with Anderson, she had noticed. Perhaps it was how familiar she had made herself with her crew.

"Please, Alenko. Leave it at Shepard."

And before she could continue, she saw a half smile appear on his face under the extremely dim light.

"Then I'm Kaidan, ma'am. If-uh-that's not-"

"Nice to meet you Kaidan," she replied with a smile, interrupting him politely. "Now back to your original question…"

The night had not ended as miserably as Shepard had predicted. After vaguely telling Kaidan that the sleeping meds didn't work, they decided if they turned down the lights in the mess hall, Kaidan could go out and sit with some tea and a plate of sandwiches. Shepard was a biotic, sure, and she _did _have to eat more than most, but a biotic as powerful as Kaidan had to eat tonnes. Shepard sat with him for an hour, watching the stack of sandwiches deplete as they spoke. It was interesting for her; sitting down and having a proper long, casual conversation with someone she didn't know all that well. And they barely even mentioned the Alliance to Shepard's surprise. It was sad, she couldn't remember the last time she had a conversation that didn't centre around something Alliance related. It was then that Shepard decided that she liked Kaidan Alenko, and would be damned happy if could call him friend someday in the future.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: Thanks for the follows and the review and fav. Muchy thankies :D On to the next chapter folks  
_**

* * *

"Fucking assholes,"

Kaidan stopped where he had been walking, pausing at the end of the sleeping pods. The rest of the crew were still on the Citadel, while he, Shepard and Ashley had returned to the Normandy after attending the council meeting and picking up a few of aliens.

Ashley wasn't impressed, but she'd be stupid to not appreciate the help. Garrus and Wrex were currently making themselves at home down in the shuttle bay, staying clear of Ashley, while Tali had retreated to the engine room. Kaidan would have been lying if he had said he wasn't even one little bit sceptical about their new crew members, but they seemed like good people and were committing themselves to the chase for Saren. That was good enough for him, but most certainly not the case for the Gunnery Chief.

He peered around the edge of the wall, towards the ground team's lockers, and spotted Shepard angrily ramming her armour and gear into hers. He thought back to the council session, where he was sure steam was about to burst from her ears. She obviously didn't play well with politicians.

Once she had slammed her locker shut, she let herself fall back from her straight kneeling position so that her shoulders were slumped forward and her ass was resting on the back of her legs.

Debating on what to do, Kaidan gulped. He was headed down to the shuttle bay to tinker with the mods for his pistol, but to do that he'd have to walk past her. So the question was, does he casually walk past her, ignoring her apparent misery, or did he do what he seemed to do best and go over to try and comfort her. Sometimes he wished he was heartless. It would have given him so much less trouble.

"Commander?"

She jumped, trying to get up from her knees without looking like a stumbling moron and failing dramatically.

"Jesus Christ, Alenko! You're so lucky I wasn't armed."

She was lying. Goddamnit, she was lying. She'd never go anywhere without a pistol at her hip or stuffed in the back of her waistband. She was ashamed she didn't notice him, being stuck in her own thoughts. She just prayed he didn't notice the small handgun that was barely concealed by her N7 hoodie.

Kaidan did notice though. He noticed the battered metal peeking out near the top of her sweats. He did his best not to react, hoping that his facial expression hadn't given him away. He understood why she had lied.

"Sorry, ma'am. Didn't mean to startle you. Was just heading down to the shuttle bay and heard some profanities being fired around in this general direction. Just wanted to make sure nothing was being broken."

He gave a smirk that should have been accompanied by a wink but he held back. Was he flirting? No, he was just trying to lighten the mood, that was all.

"I'd love to see the damn council's faces broken. Stupid idiots. You know, someday there gonna be a war right in front of their nose and they won't acknowledge it until it blows up in their own selfish faces."

She stalked over to the table, dropped down into a chair and groaned, her head falling down to hit the table. Kaidan wasn't sure if he was invited to join her or not but he took the chance, taking two protein bars from Rupert's kitchen drawer and tossing one across the table to her as he sat down. She lifted her head up, glanced at the bar confused, and then up at Kaidan; who was casually unwrapping his food, not paying any attention to his commanding officer.

"Why is it you always stumble across me when I'm having a crap time, Kaidan? I mean, by now you must think I'm some emotionally unstable insomniac."

She was referring to the night of his migraine, as well as recently, when he walked in on her yelling in frustration at the gun she was modding and most defiantly the time when Chakwas had forgotten her menstrual injection and he had walked into the med bay to see the commander grieving her hamster that had just died.

"Err- no, ma'am. Maybe-"

"Kaidan."

"Oh. Sorry. No, uh, Shepard. Maybe my spidy senses just tingle when you're unst- uh, down and I'm just…conveniently there to cheer you up?"

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a knowing smirk.

"I'm not unstable. I just have had a…few… bad days."

"Yes, of course, Commander. Uh, Shepard."

He cringed as she rolled her eyes, her lips tugging into a genuine smile. Picking up her bar and finishing it quickly, she grasped both her and Kaidan's wrappers in a fist and looked towards the trash can by the kitchen counter.

"Loser takes equipment cleaning. I win, you do mine as well as yours; you win, I do yours as well as mine. Sound fair?"

She wasn't sure if she liked the look that was on his face. It was a look of determination, and above all, someone with a master plan.

"You sure you want to do this, Shepard? No backing out afterwards."

She narrowed her eyes, looking straight at him as she handed him his plastic.

"Game on, Alenko."

The bin was far enough from the two of them to make it somewhat of a challenge; Kaidan now sitting beside Shepard instead of opposite to make it fairer. She had demanded to go first; demanded like a six year old child. Kaidan still found himself surprised sometimes as he got to know his Commander more and more, about how incredibly childish the hero of Elysium, daughter of Captain Shepard, N7 officer and now the first human Spectre could be. Because of this, she would not like his next course of action.

After she missed the trash can by an inch to the left, Kaidan looked at her with a look of confidence that she had never seen before. She had to get this guy having fun more often, she decided, just as he plucked his wrapper up off the table into the palm of his hand. Before she knew it, it was sitting in the bin.

"Not fair!" she exclaimed, standing up from her chair so she could let herself still feel superior to her lieutenant, despite having lost their little contest.

"You never said no biotics, Shepard. What, want a re-match?"

However, just as Shepard opened her mouth to protest more, there was a whoop and a clap from behind her, followed by heavy footsteps.

"G'wan, Alenko!" one of the crewmen who had just arrived yelled enthusiastically.

Shepard didn't know why, but she felt embarrassed that more of her crew were seeing her act this way. It was no way for a commander to act.

That was when Kaidan noticed her whole demeanour change, going from relaxed and fun P. Shepard, to Commander P. Shepard of the Alliance Navy and first human Spectre. The change was dramatic and it confused him. And by the look on her face, it confused her too.

"Next time, Lieutenant," she said in her commanding tone, turning to face him, away from the crew. "We'll see who wins with biotics."

"Thought you said you'd never want to go against me biotic wise?"

"Shut up, Alenko."

And with that she walked over to her fallen plastic, chucked it into the bin and headed off in the direction of the elevator.

"You know, Alenko," Jones began, as he sat down in Shepard's empty seat, tearing Kaidan's gaze away from his commander's retreating back. "She acts like you and Williams are her best friends sometimes. I mean, she's great and everything but that lady needs to loosen up a bit more with everyone _else_."

Jones' comment puzzled Kaidan. He had never held that opinion of her. She had never seemed uptight either. Maybe it was because him and Ashley were the since the beginning of this whole ordeal, had witnessed Saren first hand?

"Guess she just has favourites on the ship, Jones." He replied distantly, his thoughts elsewhere.

He promptly left the table to down to the shuttle bay to mod that gun as he had planned, and perhaps he'd have a talk with Ashley.

* * *

Ashley snickered as she watched Shepard leave to go talk to Garrus. Her sister's, as usual, had the most incredible timing possible. Shepard thought she looked simply curious but Ashley'd be damned if that curiosity hadn't had a tint of jealousy. It was hilarious. A week she had been with this ship and already she could see the sexual tension between them. Of course Alenko would be too chicken to man up to what was going on and if there was one thing Ashley had learnt about her commander so far, it was that the woman was stubborn as hell. So this would never happen, Ashley had concluded, unless there was a small push involved. She would be that push.

As if by fate, Alenko stepped out of the elevator while Shepard stepped in, both giving smiles, and Shepard attempting to trip the biotic up as he moved out. It was obvious that she succeeded when there was a sound of crashing, a yell of the word 'fuck', and a peal of laughter coming from their direction.

Ashley stood up from her table to see what damage the two had done. Alenko was sitting on the floor beside one of the gun stands, rubbing his head with the heel of his hand. A small pained chuckle could be heard from him, despite Shepard's mad cackling and pathetic attempts to be sympathetic. It was beautiful, Ashley though almost sarcastically. When the two were together, they seemed to act completely out of character. Garrus seemed to be thinking the same thing and smiled whatever way turians smiled. Wrex simply looked back down at his gun, grumbling something along the lines of, "damn pyjaks,"

When Alenko seemed to have recovered and Shepard left after apologising, laughing all the while, Ashley quickly sat back down before the lieutenant reached her table.

"So," she began, giving him a cheeky smirk as he collapsed into the seat beside her.

He looked at her suspiciously, placing his pistol on the table and getting ready to start taking it apart.

"What do you mean, 'so'?"

She turned in her chair, her elbow now resting on the table with her chin on the back of her hand. She felt like a high school girl again and it felt great.

"_So, _you and our CO seem pretty tight. What happened there?"

He tried to act naturally, knowing what she was getting at, and refused to look up at her, focusing his attention on his extended barrel instead.

"She has a weird sleeping pattern. Usually intersects with the time I'm up for food or with migraines. We talk for a bit and she has these meds that help with the pain."

Ashley wiggled her eyebrows.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" she asked innocently.

"Stop implying things that are ridiculous and will never happen."

"So you admit you'd like it to happen?"

"What-No! I-I- Just- Ashley!"

His gun was now completely forgotten about, his eyes looking at Ashley like a deer caught in headlights. She laughed, patting him on the shoulder.

"Chill, LT. I was just riling you up. Trust me, I already noticed you checking her out at the council meeting. What, does she turn you on when she's angry? I'll have to tell her you find that hot. I- Oh, come on, Alenko. Don't give me that look."

He looked defeated, ashamed. Ashley would not stand for it.

"Ashley, just 'cos I _might_ enjoy her company and I _might_ find her attractive, doesn't mean I'm wishing for anything. The only difference between me and the rest of the male sex is that she actually seems to enjoy my company as well. No big deal."

She rolled her eyes, standing up from her chair to go to the mess hall, waving him off dismissively.

"Yea, yea. Whatever you say, LT. You keep thinking in denial."

And then, he was left alone with his gun and his extended barrel, with nothing but that previous conversation to think about. Oh, he wanted to kill Ashley for even making him think about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: thank ya'll for the reviews. Hope you all had a great birth of baby Jesus celebration._**

**_Ancientassassin: I want to let you know how much I laughed at your 'metaphor'. I had just used an extended barrel 'cos it was what I had on Kaidan's pistol the last time I was playing the game. But let's just pretend it was a metaphor all along... ;)_**

* * *

They were en route to Therum to find Dr T'Soni, much to Shepard's displeasure. Oddly enough, it had nothing to do with the actual mission, more so to do with the heat. Having grown up on ships, Shepard was only ever exposed to the sun during missions and training. Her previous experiences obviously hadn't left a good impression on her.

She grumbled to herself as she strapped her chest plate on tightly, and heard a grunt behind her. She turned to see who was apparently mocking her.

"Wouldn't last a day on Tuchunka," Wrex said, leaning against a pillar near the shuttle.

"Then let's hope I never have to go there," she retorted, clipping the final strap in place.

"Commander, ETA five minutes."

"Thanks, Joker."

Kaidan and Ashley marched over towards her, all geared up and ready to go. Garrus had gone off to 'calibrate' down in engineering, while Wrex had come to see them off; sulking all the while.

"Don't worry, Wrex," Shepard said as she walked by him, giving him a pat on his heavily armoured shoulder and a smile. "You can come next time."

There was a mumbled reply from the krogan as he stomped off to the other side of the bay; clearing out of the way of the shuttle. Ashley seemed to be having trouble refraining to smile at the alien, looking down at the floor of the shuttle as the doors closed.

"You know you can be friendly with them," Kaidan said, an eyebrow raised. Ashley didn't look up, instead glared at the floor more intensely.

"Whatever, LT."

* * *

Liara had worn Shepard out. It may have been the escaping from the collapsing tower moment; the overload of complicated jabber the asari seemed so fond of using, or the most likely cause; the sudden blow to the head that this reaper this was big. It was big; bigger than they had thought and it was only going to get worse. And so far it seemed that the only people who gave a rat's ass about it were on her ship. She wasn't sure if that was supposed to give her more confidence or not, but at least her people were dedicated to it. Noveria was next on their 'to do' list and Shepard cringed just thinking about it. She was terrible with dealing with feelings, especially other's feelings, and this asari seemed kind of like a ticking time bomb of emotion. She'd have to assign Kaidan to Liara watch. He was good at that touchy feely thing.

And there it was again. She had somehow managed to let Kaidan slip into her thoughts again. Maybe she was getting too friendly with her crew. Recently, her evenings were spent down in the shuttle bay with Ashley, playing poker; Garrus even joining in from time to time while Wrex watched in confusion. Ashley seemed to have gotten over her racism with Garrus at least; finding his company and humour too enjoyable and to her tastes. When she wasn't in the shuttle bay, Shepard spent some other evenings up in the mess hall with Tali, Kaidan, and some of the normal crew. All they did was relax, with their feet up on the table and a drink in hand. Shepard realised long ago that she was, perhaps, one of the most unprofessional CO's out there, but she didn't see the harm in letting her crew have some sort of lives. It was probably the nights she should've been worried about the most.

Shepard had never been a good sleeper; especially since Elysium; but since the beacon, her night's rest become almost nonexistent. She had Chakwas on her tail constantly, demanding she take sleeping meds so she could let her body actually function properly; but the doctor soon realised too, that nothing would help. And so, Shepard would find herself in the mess hall at approximately 2am each night; dressed in her N7 sweats and tank top, a cup of tea clutched in one hand and a data pad in the other. After the first few nights, she just stopped bringing her data pad. It gradually became routine for her to have a steaming mug of tea placed on the table opposite her, ready for when her guest arrived.

She was still baffled by Kaidan's eating habits. He had told her the first night that usually he'd get up at this time and just grab a protein bar, but since she was going to be there anyway he may as well have gotten himself a sandwich and stay for some conversation. Yes, Shepard was sure this was her problem. She had grown to really trust Kaidan, and found herself closer with him than any of the other crew. And Shepard never really had friends before, excluding Kay, so this was completely new to her. She had friends now that weren't just comrades, weren't just other soldiers. Joker would always be the annoying little brother she never had, while Tali was most definitely her little sister. Garrus was the friend who would prod at you with jokes and be there for you when something crap headed your way. Wrex was Wrex. You get what you give. And Ashley, well, she was almost as close to Shepard as Kaidan was. The three of them would always be thee squad. The ones who were there from the very start.

But Kaidan… It scared her how much she'd opened up to her lieutenant. She told herself it was because it was at night time when they spoke and that was when she blabbed. Like when she had told him about her first and only boyfriend, Jordan, when she was fifteen. It had been a horrible attempt to make him feel better after he had told her about Rahna, and instead of darkening the mood further, she had decided to humiliate herself by telling a story she had never dared tell anyone else. His reaction of course, had been abrupt laughter, completely shadowing over their previous conversation, just as Shepard had planned.

Yes, this was defiantly the problem. She really cared about these people and how they felt. The majority of the social interaction she had experienced had been with military personnel, never friends. She had never cared for people like this before. This was why, in a way, she hoped she didn't get too emotionally attached to Liara. The asari was not going to have a fun time and Shepard didn't know how she'd cope with the doctor. No, she'd get Tali and Kaidan to watch out for her. She wouldn't go down with Liara like it was her own problem. Nope.

* * *

Shepard had been wrong, as usual. Liara was broken when she was back on the Normandy; avoiding most of the crew and heading straight to her cabin. Tali had caught her on her way and pulled her into a tight hug before guiding her into the cabin with a hand on her shoulder. She emerged soon afterwards, looking at Shepard from behind her mask to go in. The commander took a deep breath, eyes staring up at the ceiling, and made her way into Liara's room. There was a pep talk that didn't feel natural on Shepard's tongue, and then a determined farewell from the asari, her face surprisingly brighter.

With a sigh, Shepard collapsed down into a seat with a glass of water and rested her head on her hand, leaning her elbow on the table. This whole Saren mess was getting bigger and bigger, just as she had predicted; and the indoctrination… It was plain frightening. To see someone so… She shuddered until she felt a hand on her shoulder and a person sitting in the chair beside her.

"You alright, Commander?"

It was Kaidan. Of all the ways to make the situation worse…

"I think I just comforted someone." She said, sounding dazed and confused, not bothering moving to look at him. She heard him laugh, not even needing to look at him to imagine the crinkled lines at the sides of his mouth as he smiled. He was sort of adorable. No, you are his commander, Pan. Stop it right now.

"And why do you sound so surprised, Shepard? I mean, you're one hell of a charismatic person."

"If by charismatic you mean getting everyone in a room to shut and listen to you by threatening them violently with a gun? Yea, I think this time was just a fluke."

"Well, obviously something worked, ma'am. You just missed Liara walk out of med bay with a data pad in hand and a look of a woman on a mission."

"Technically, she's not a woman, Kaidan," Shepard pointed out dryly, holding her glass lazily up to her lips and feeling slightly drunk for no good reason.

"Right, Shepard. Whatever."

"Don't give me back talk like that, Lieutenant! I'll have you on cleaning duty for a week if you keep that up,"

"The only place I'll need to clean up is the work table down near Ashley after you're finished with it. What do you do when you're down there, Shepard? Get a hammer a bash the thing to pieces?"

"Excuse me. I will have you know that you don't get pistol's a superb as mine by picking it up at a shop. Hard work has to go into it. Not that you'd-"

There was a splutter of laughter from the direction of the elevator, where Ashley was standing, an eyebrow raised at them.

"You two sound like an old married couple, yea know that?"

Shepard noticed the intense look Kaidan was giving Ashley; as if he was daring her to even try something. She just winked back at him.

"Sorry, Williams. You can move out of the house whenever you find a husband up to your father's standards."

Kaidan choked on the sip of his drink he had taken, laughing between breaths at Shepard's backfire.

"Don't you worry, ma," Ashley continued, plonking down opposite them with a sandwich. "You two are too fun to be around anyway. Wouldn't want to miss it."

Shepard almost choked herself when Kaidan's look turned from an innocent glance to a glare. Ashley gave him a gigantic grin. Apparently she was enjoying making him miserable; whatever way that was.

"Right, Williams. Cut it out," she butted back in, commander tone back in gear. "For your sins, you're not coming to Feros with us. Stay behind and get some work done on those guns, alright? And help get Garrus away from the Mako. That damned death trap doesn't need any more calibrating."

Ashley pouted childishly before pushing back her chair with a dramatic sigh and picking up her plate.

"Fine, fine. I know when I'm not wanted. I'll let you get back to making our poor LT blush then, skipper."

She didn't look back at them to see their mouths dangling open; closely resembling fish. Too awkward to follow up on Ashley's comment, Kaidan stood up and nervously made an excuse to leave, saying that he had to go tweak his console near the sleeping pods. Shepard didn't argue, simply gave him a nod and a 'uh huh' and quickly retreated to the elevator to clear her head in a warm shower.

* * *

As she let the warm water hit her in the face, she thought about how much she hated Williams at that moment. What right did she have to be implying these kind of things? What right did she have to be making Shepard think of things she certainly shouldn't have been thinking of? Damn her to hell. She was right about their flirting. It was harmless though, right? Just a bit of banter between friends in a stressful time. Yep, Shepard told herself. That was it.

She forgot she was even in the shower; just standing there, staring at the wall as the almost scalding water ran down her pale and scarred body. She had to stop getting lost in her thoughts. She scolded herself mentally and stepped out of the shower, ready to face the chill.

She had been drying off her hair with a towel when Joker interrupted her, telling her that Hackett was on vid com. The now lukewarm water dripped from her dark hair, splashing against the inked skin of her collar bone. She had gotten that after Elysium. Just… for her. It was black ink of intricate flowers, spreading from the edge of her left collarbone to the top of her shoulder. Anyone she had trained with had seen it, for obvious reasons, however it didn't go much further than that. She liked to think that it reminded her that she was human, female, in a mostly male dominated world. No doubt most of the soldiers below her would laugh at her if they knew the great, inspirational Commander Shepard had a weakness for flowers.

Taking in a breath, she tousled her hair with the towel one more time, ran her fingers through it and yanked on her slacks and boots. Her hair was still dripping slightly, leaving a damp patch on her shirt, but Hackett had seen her alot less professional so she could live with it.

"Commander, nice and freshened up I see.

As always, Hackett had a pleasant greeting for her. Though sometimes she would love nothing but to throw a bucket at his head and yell at him to be a bit sterner with her. But that's probably what happens when you've called Admiral Hackett, Uncle Steve when you were a toddler.

"Yes, sir. Can't defend the galaxy smelling like a pig sty, sir. What is it you wanted to see me for?"

He had let out a chuckle and given her a smile. Now that she was older, her familiarity with her higher ups made her somewhat uncomfortable.

"Right. There's been some extremely sensitive intel stolen from one of our outposts on the Citadel. We know who's got it but this would be far too risky to send just anyone in."

"Fine, sir. Where's the base and what numbers should we be expecting?"

Hackett hesitated, obviously stalling from what needed to be said. Shepard wasn't sure what he was planning but she sure as hell didn't like it.

"There is no base, Commander. Eriksson is situated in Destiny, the nightclub in the lower wards on the Citadel. He's climbing up the ladder in power down there and if we're not careful, we'll soon have our own mini Aria T'Lok on our hands. Obviously, we do not need this."

Shepard still didn't see the punch line. She narrowed her eyes.

"Sir, if this guy is going to be anything like Aria, how am I supposed to get in and out?"

And that's when it clicked.

"Undercover. Right. Okay. Fine."

"Commander, I know this wouldn't be your particularly favourite kind of job, but-"

He was interrupted by an uncivilised snot from Shepard who was now looking hopelessly up at the ceiling. He continued, looking amused.

"-it must be done and you're the only one for the job. It will be simple enough; go in as civilian, unarmed, and approach him. You'll need to gain his trust or find a good distraction so you divert to his office. I'm sure you can handle it, Shepard. I have faith."

And before she could even open her mouth to protest, there was a 'Hackett out' and a fizz as the vid stream disappeared.

She was going to kill Steven for this.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: And here's one of my favourites... Thanks for the reviews and favs/follows. Anymore feedback though guys?**_

* * *

"Joker, tell the crew they can have brief shore leave. Me and the darling duo have some work to do."

"By work do you mean you giving some sleazy guy a view of your ass as a, what was it Hackett called it? Oh yeah. A _distraction._"

Shepard whipped off his cap and smacked him on the shoulder with it, silently hoping she hadn't fractured anything.

"You weren't supposed to be listening to that, Joker. And no. Hopefully Ashley will take care of that part. Seriously, she's weirdly excited about this."

"Alenko's gonna have a field day with the two of you."

He stopped mid laugh when Shepard gave him the evil eye and saluted; bringing his attention back to his console.

"Right. The crew. See yea, Commander."

She rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the cockpit and waited for the other two at the exit. When there was no sign of them after a couple of minutes, she brought up her omni-tool to message Kay.

'_On the Citadel for a bit. Have a bit of a situation and need help. Meet you at Apollo's if you're not busy?'_

God, it was embarrassing. She didn't own one item of civvies. Not one. She'd never had an occasion before, seeing as her whole life was basically just on military ships. She had when she was younger, sure, but certainly not since she enlisted. This was why, unfortunately, she was recruiting Kay to help buy her something normal people wear. She'd let Kaidan and Ashley off for two hours and then they'd meet back up outside of Destiny and Shepard would act like she'd had the clothes in the back of her wardrobe for years.

She got an almost instant reply of '_Hell yeah! See you in ten!" _ and then zapped her omni-tool off just as Kaidan and Ashley appeared.

"You ready to go, guys?"

There was a simultaneous 'yup' and then they headed out of the airlock, Joker hollering good luck behind them. Shepard felt naked without her gun. It felt wrong.

* * *

"You guys do what you want for two hours. I gotta go take care of something. Remember; civvies."

They parted ways, Shepard not daring to look back and bolted to Apollo's as fast as she could. She was greeted by some flailing arms.

"Pan! Haven't seen you in ages, honey. How are you?"

Shepard managed to escape from Kay's tight hug and slid down into a chair, holding a hand to her face in hope that nobody would recognise her.

"Uh, great. Listen, Kay, I need a favour and it's pretty embarrassing."

Kay sat down opposite her, pushing her long brown locks over her shoulder and out of the way.

"Now, when you say embarrassing, do you mean normal person embarrassing, or only Pandora Shepard embarrassing?"

Shepard cringed, still hoping, even after all the years she had known Kay, that she would stop using her first name like that. But of course that would _never _happen.

"Uh, the latter."

As Shepard explained her predicament in full detail, they ordered coffee and a sandwich each, even though she had no appetite whatsoever. This was not going well, she thought.

Just as she had begun to relax, half listening to Kay listing off places for them to go, she was brought out of her cool, calm, collected place by the sound of her Gunnery Chief behind her.

"_Shepard_, fancy seeing you here!"

Shepard winced, closing her eyes and praying that Kay wouldn't encourage Ash over. Turning around, she put on a forced smile.

"Hey, Ash. Just, uh, sitting down with an old friend."

And then the two of them did exactly what she had dreaded. Kay invited Ashley over, introducing herself and telling her to sit down and order herself something. Somewhere along the way, as Shepard sat there in mental pain, the topic of why Kay was there came up and she let it slip out.

"Ma'am, you gotta let me come help you two. I was going to go get something myself anyway."

Of course Kay went and agreed to it, Shepard still sitting in silence.

* * *

The next hour and a half were torturous. They had dragged her back and forth; pulled on different inconvenient clothing on her, put some outrageous looking shoes on and it continued until Shepard finally cracked and said they had to leave if they wanted to make it to Destiny in time.

They had put makeup on her. It was horrible. She would have taken ten waves of geth over this any day. She just couldn't understand why they enjoyed it so much. It was only when Kay gave her a mirror, she began to understand a tiny bit why they went through such effort.

She looked _different_. They had concealed the scar through her eyebrow with some sort of skin coloured paste; had outlined her eyes with dark eye makeup, bringing out their bright green colour. They had even put a tint of red on her lips. But it was _nothing_ compared to what she was wearing.

It was a red tank top, billowing at the neck in elegant folds, a couple of gold chains attached from each shoulder to fall along her chest. The skirt she wore was high waisted, black and tight as hell. She'd be going nowhere if she had to run in it. And it showed a _lot _of leg, making her increasingly more uncomfortable. On her feet were black ankle boots with a small heel on them. She found herself actually admiring them.

Once she left her dressing room, Ashley bounced over to her and widened her eyes and Shepard's tattoo.

"Damn, Commander. That's some pretty awesome ink. I think Kay has your jacket."

Kay nudged Shepard in the shoulder and shoved a leather jacket into her arms, sending her a smile.

"Go kick some ass, Pan."

And for once, Shepard felt herself relax outside of her comfort zone. As she and Ashley made their way to Destiny, she caught herself smiling. She felt like a damn rebel.

"You gotta be careful now, Shep," Ash had been saying; her own heels clicking as she walked. She had settled for a blue party dress and wore it like a second skin. Shepard couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of her confidence.

"Aren't I always? Shouldn't I be the one giving pep talks, Ash?"

Ashley snicker, not looking at her commander as she continued.

"I was _going_ to say, you gotta be careful around Alenko. Poor guy's gonna have heart failure."

Shepard felt her ears going red and was eternally grateful for how her hair fell over them.

"'Course he will, Ash. Have you _seen_ yourself in the mirror?"

"Come on now, Skipper. We all know the LT's sweet on yea. Just don't give him any more reason to get drool on my dress."

Ashley had a unique way of getting a point across. A way that always stumped Shepard on how to react. It took everything for Shepard not to let her face break out into a 'what the hell do I do?' expression, but she was sure Ashley could see right through her anyway.

Fine, yeah. Maybe there was a _little_ bit of sexual tension going on between her and Kaidan but Ashley was blowing out of proportion. In a way, she was thankful that they had reached Kaidan at Destiny and didn't have to reply; because in truth, she had no idea what she would have said.

The first thing she noticed was Ashley smirking at Kaidan, and then in turn she noticed Kaidan. She realised before it was too late that she was checking him out. It was very hard not to, with him looking so different in civvies. They suited him. He was just wearing a long sleeved, dark blue, buttoned down shirt and some very presentable jeans. There was a small bit of stubble grazing his chin that Shepard wasn't sure he had left because he knew he'd in civvies, or because he had decided he wasn't going to be clean shaven anymore. Shepard hoped it was the latter. It was attractive.

It did make her feel better, however, that when she looked back at his eyes, they weren't where they were supposed to be either. At first, she assumed it was Ashley he was looking at, who was standing closely beside her, their elbows touching. But the she followed his eyes' path and realised they were trailing up her bare legs and back down again.

Ashley watched the whole thing with amusement. She did think that maybe they should get a move on and so decided to interrupt her Commander and Lieutenant from making googly eyes at each other. She let out a cough to get their attention.

Shepard twitched, straightening up and briefly catching Kaidan's eyes before awkwardly looking away.

"Right, everyone got their comms linked? Great. We'll work as it comes at us. This'll be too difficult to plan properly as this is completely unknown territory."

"Shepard, it's a nightclub, not a-"

"Shut up, Ashley. Now, the least we can do is have a skeleton plan. We get in there, mingle as to not draw attention, and if one of us spots Eriksson, we give everyone else a heads up. We'll work from there. Any questions?"

Ashley put up her hand like a child, Kaidan giving her a sideways look.

"When you say mingle-"

"No drinking, Williams. Maybe after."

When Ashley shrugged her shoulders and didn't seem like she was going to say anything else, Shepard led the way towards the door and opened it to be assaulted by the booming bass of the music, hurting her ears more than any gun fire ever had.

She couldn't lie; she felt a bit of pins and needles starting in her legs from the nerves. Although it could also have been from the heels and the tight skirt but she was too busy to internally debate that. Ashley fit into the crowd with ease; as if she had just come home after months away on a tour. She had left her and Kaidan alone in the middle of the club to go up to the bar and flirt with a couple of the guys there. Shepard noted the 'water' in her newly acquired glass.

She stood there, confused as to what one does at a nightclub other than pick up one night stands, and turned to see Kaidan smiling down at her.

"Come on, we'll sit down. Got a good view of the place from up there."

She nodded, following him up the stairs to the booth on the balcony, looking over the main bar and dance floor. She cursed as she tripped on her heel and felt her face burning red when Kaidan's hand grasped onto her arm to steady her. It was horrible and embarrassing. And it only got worse when they got to the booth when he offered to take her jacket. She was hoping to get away with keeping it on all night, but the place was hot and she didn't want to ruin Kay and Ashley's work on her face. So reluctantly, she let him take it off her shoulders and was nowhere near surprised when she heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her. Her tattoo was revealed once again. She went red.

"It's amazing," she heard him say quietly behind her, the tips of his fingers grazing over the ink. He stopped suddenly, as if he hadn't even realised he'd been doing it in the first place. When he came around to face her, Shepard could see the tint of pink on his cheeks, despite the flashing lights.

She awkwardly shrugged her shoulders and sat down, waiting for him to join her. Their time together wasn't usually this painfully awkward. Damn it, Ashley.

"So we better keep an eye out," she chirped, breaking the tense silence. "He's gonna be somewhere like this, somewhere he can look over everyone. Probably'll have a tonne of guards with him as well."

They kept watch out of the corner of their eyes, acting as casual as possible. Shepard was leaning back against the curved seat facing Kaidan, her leg crossed over her knee; while Kaidan had a foot on top of his knee, his arms spread out across the back of the sofa. They looked like a young couple to everyone else.

About half an hour into their night, after they had gotten hungry and thought they might as well order some finger foods, there was a deep cough from the entrance of their booth. Shepard and Kaidan broke out of their conversation about their early enlisting years to see a large balding man standing in front of them; a krogan on his right and a turian on his left. They'd obviously found Eriksson. They shared a look, realising that _this _was where the man should have been, and both quickly jumped into their acting roles.

"Oh my gosh, we're so sorry! Was this meant to be your booth?" she exclaimed dramatically, putting down the glass of soda she had been drinking. She knew by the look on Kaidan's face that he would be laughing at her for this later.

"Oh, we're _very_ sorry," he continued on, playing with the act. "We'll move if you want?"

Eriksson stared at them for a moment before saying something to his guards and sitting down opposite Shepard and Kaidan. The two had scooched closer on the seat when they were sharing the food; now shoulder to shoulder. Shepard enjoyed leaning into him, inhaling that musky scent, all too much.

"Nonsense. It just so happens that I'd enjoy some company tonight. Jackson Eriksson, pleased to meet you."

They both plastered on fake smiles, nearly breaking their act to laugh at the poor guy's name. They were far too giddy to be sober.

"Joanne Moreau, nice to meet you, Jackson." She replied, holding out a hand for him to shake. Kaidan looked at her, baffled at her name choice before raising his eyebrows and introducing himself.

"Andrew Adams, at your service. Great place, this."

If Eriksson was suspicious, he certainly wasn't showing it. Shepard saw Ashley looking up at them out of the corner of her eye and gave her as much information as she could with just eye contact.

"It is, isn't it?" Eriksson replied smugly, rubbing his chin with his thumb. "You and your girlfriend come here often? Haven't seen you around before."

Shepard stared at Kaidan, amazed at how he didn't even flinch at the mention of her being his girlfriend, instead maintaining his charade flawlessly.

"No, our first time actually. Only just came out from Earth. Right, sweetie?"

Shepard didn't realise he was even talking to her, still staring at his face blankly. It wasn't until she noticed him looking intensely at her to _talk_ that she woke up.

"Oh, uh, yea. Never been here before. Never. Ha."

She could have slapped herself in the face for being so terrible at the acting. After several minutes of Eriksson talking to Kaidan and seemingly ignoring her, she saw something on the man's face as he looked at the lieutenant. Attraction. Using all the willpower she could possibly muster, Shepard refrained from laughing at Kaidan's oblivious face. Eriksson was gay and he was _really_ into Kaidan. She could not _wait _until this reached Ashley and Joker's ears.

A plan began forming in her head, with thanks to this new found information. She didn't need to gain his trust or find a distraction anymore. _Kaidan _was the distraction. If she could leave the two of them, Eriksson probably wouldn't care less, delighted that he could have Kaidan to himself. He wouldn't even remember Shepard had been there.

Still laughing to herself in her head, she put a hand on Kaidan's shoulder to get his attention.

"Just going to the ladies room, sweetness," she gushed, quietly but loud enough for Eriksson to hear. She pressed her fingers into his upper arm and met his eyes, letting him know to keep Eriksson occupied. He had no idea what he was agreeing to.

He nodded and smiled, extremely aware of Eriksson's watchful eye over them. While he was simply jealous of Shepard, Kaidan unfortunately wasn't aware of this, and thought that Eriksson was instead, getting suspicious. Panicking, Kaidan decided to try and make their charade all the more convincing.

"I'll see you in a few minutes then, honey," he replied, charmingly, and to both Shepard and Eriksson's shock, he pulled her in for a peck on the lips before turning back to Eriksson like nothing had even happened.

Shepard didn't freeze for too long; wanting to get the hell out of there before she yelled at Kaidan. That guy was an impressive actor. But she felt wrong as she made her way down the stairs to find Ash. Even though it was just the briefest of touches, she couldn't help but still feel the pressure against her lips; the quick scratch of stubble that hit off her cheek as he moved away. Dressing up with makeup, she decided, did nothing good for her. This was what she had_ tried _to feel when she was a teenager. She had _tried _to experience all those stereotypical teenaged things with Jordan when she was fifteen. The first kiss, the French kiss, the making out, the sex. It was all a load of bullshit, she had discovered, and hadn't even bothered try past her first kiss. But maybe now she was starting to understand those tingly feelings people were supposed to get.

Nah. Load of bull.

She spotted Ashley gazing up at her and Kaidan's balcony, leaning against a lone table and grinning up at the scene.

"Hey, Shep. Does he, uh, know that Eriksson is trying to make a move on him?"

Shepard let out a laugh, shaking her head and pulling Ashley away by her wrist. She wasn't sure where they were going but she headed towards the most restricted looking place.

"So that was a nice little act you two had going on up there. Even had me convinced you were together."

Had they not been walking through some sketchy looking corridors that were looking more abandoned by the minute, Shepard probably would have turned around and smacked Ashley across the head. Instead, they continued onwards.

"You don't need us to convince you. It's like you've got our children named already."

"Ma'am I would never do such a thing. Such a relationship between you and Lieutenant Alenko would be fraternisation and we all know Commander Shepard would never break regs."

Shepard put a hand up to stop Ashley from yapping when she spotted some armed guards outside of a door on one side of the hallway, security cameras peering down towards them. She moved them both back around the corner they had just turned and out of the view of the cameras. Leaning against the wall, she pressed her lips tightly together and sighed.

"Okay," she said simply, taking a breath back in. "Plan. Right. We've got security cameras; one looking down this way, one at the door. We've also got two armed krogan. Ideas?"

Ashley clenched her teeth, bringing a hand through her loose hair as she thought.

"We kind of need Alenko here, don't we? I mean, I have zero tech to take out those cameras, you've got- oh, nothing either. At least you've got your biotics and I have my fists?"

Shepard grumbled as she put a finger to her ear to contact Kaidan.

"Kaidan, we're just outside the office but there's two cameras and armed guards. If you have any way of getting away from your boyfriend for a couple of minutes, now would be a good time."

There was silence between her and Ashley for a few minutes as they prayed Kaidan would appear. And just like that, he swooped down the corridor and came to a halt at them.

"You never told me he was gay," he mumbled bitterly to Shepard as he peered around the corner and started up his omni tool.

"Well it wasn't exactly on his dossier, Lieutenant. I thought when he only had eyes for you you'd realised."

He mumbled something else with a frown on his face, unaware of the smirk Ashley and Shepard were sharing behind his back.

"How'd you get away anyway?" Ashley asked, completely not caring that he was trying to concentrate.

"Told him I was going to check on you." He jerked his head towards Shepard, his hands still occupied.

"And what the hell are you going to tell him when you go back? You _do _need to go back, you know. We need more time."

There was a beep from his omni tool and he turned to narrow his eyes at Ashley.

"I'll tell him what he wants to hear. My girlfriend's gone off with one of her friends."

He didn't leave any time to spare, speeding back off down the hallway, the stress almost visible around his head. Ashley quietly whistled.

"Yep. Joker's gonna have fun with this news."

She gave Shepard a wink before both of them peered around the corner again. The two krogan were leaning against the wall, their shotguns dangling at their sides as they spoke to each other quietly. The two women shared a look before starting down towards them. One of them noticed them and jerked up straight, elbowing the other in the gut to bring his attention to the intruders.

"You're not allowed down here," one of them said, eyes switching suspiciously back and forth between Ashley and Shepard.

"Oh?" Ashley quipped.

"Leave now or-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence. He was hoisted into the air by Shepard's biotics, dropping his gun, and the other krogan hadn't a chance to react before Ashley had the shotgun pointed to his head. He gulped as the other guard dropped to the floor, dead.

"O-okay, ladies. Go ahead. Take what you want. Be my guest. Guy's a jackass anyway."

And just like that, the krogan dropped his gun and walked away, stepping over his dead colleague. Shepard looked at Ashley, bewildered, but then shook her head. Data. Right.

She commed Kaidan to let him know they were in and they were fine. She silently hoped he was coping with being harassed. If anyone could, it would be Kaidan Alenko.

The guy's office was a pig sty. There was old food containers thrown around, data pads covering every surface, a strange aroma coming from somewhere that smelled like sour milk. The whole place was just disgusting. Ashley searched one half of the room, gagging, while Shepard did the other, and when nothing showed up on any of the data pads, she headed over to his main console. She skimmed through folders and files, only paying attention to the names and dates. Ashley was now leaning over her shoulder and pointed out an icon that was labelled 'The Bold Stuff". She asked Shepard if he'd be the kind of guy who'd label something important like that and Shepard couldn't help but agree. Unfortunately. Apparently when he said 'The Bold Stuff', he was referencing the wonderfully explicit collection of porn he had stored in the one folder. If they didn't think he was gay before, what flashed up on the screen in front of them now certainly proved the theory.

"Okay," Shepard said, eyes wide. "Not that one."

Eventually, after another ten minutes, they found it in a folder labelled plainly as 'Alliance Stolen Intel'. It was sickeningly stupid. Comming Kaidan to let him know they were out, they quickly exited the office and blended back onto the dance floor. It was then that they spotted Kaidan trying to say goodbye to Eriksson up on the balcony, and he looked down, pleading with them.

"I better go save him, Ash." Shepard said, nudging her in the arm and gesturing up at Kaidan.

"You go do that, Skipper. I'm gonna go buy us some celebratory drinks to bring back to the ship."

Any other CO would've given her punishment then and there but did Shepard care? No.

When she got to the booth where Kaidan was now standing up, trying to explain why he had to go, she waltzed in past Eriksson's bodyguards and took Kaidan's arm.

"Come on, honey," she said, giving him a peck on the lips as pay back, hoping it affected him as much as it had affected her. "The babysitter's going to be leaving in an hour. We need to get back home to the twins."

She watched Eriksson's face fall in disappointment at the news that they had children. He was obviously planning on stealing Kaidan away from her for some secret love affair.

"Uh, yes. Really sorry we've got to go, Jackson," he said, giving the heartbroken man a rough handshake. "Must get back to the kids."

The three soldiers legged it from Destiny and didn't look back.


End file.
